Moscow noted progress on the diplomatic track after receiving written responses from the United States and NATO to Russian initiatives on security guarantees.

As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 15 at a press conference following negotiations with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau, only after realizing the seriousness of Russia's intentions did Western partners react positively to a number of proposals.

“The West eventually responded when it realized that we were seriously talking about the need for radical changes in the field of European security, it responded, responded positively to those initiatives that it had rejected for a long time,” the Russian Foreign Minister said.

At the same time, Lavrov drew attention to the fact that the West, having put forward counter-proposals on security, almost completely borrowed them from the Russian draft documents.

However, these initiatives did not touch upon key topics for the Russian Federation, which is unacceptable, the minister noted.

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

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  • © Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Chance for an agreement

Two days earlier, during a report to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the current situation in the dialogue with the United States and NATO on the subject of guarantees, Lavrov said that the United States had given a negative response to Russia's key demands not to expand NATO, not to deploy strike weapons that threaten the country, and to return the activities of the North Atlantic alliance within the borders of 1997, when the Russia-NATO Founding Act was signed.

At the same time, there was still constructiveness in the American response, in particular, in specific measures to solve the problems of ground-based intermediate and shorter-range missiles, the United States withdrew from the INF treaty to limit which in August 2019.

“And we are talking about measures to withdraw exercises along the line of contact between Russia and NATO, to agree on the maximum distance between combat aircraft and warships, and a number of other such military-technical confidence-building measures,” Lavrov told Putin. .

He also recalled that all these proposals were submitted by the General Staff to NATO back in 2020, but they remained without attention.

However, Russia's current initiative to achieve the implementation of its demands "shaken up" Western colleagues, becoming the reason "for which they were no longer able to ignore" Moscow's previous appeals.

In this regard, the Foreign Minister added, Russian diplomats will continue to seek specifics from the West on the requirements of the Russian Federation "within the framework of preserving the integrity" of its initiative of December last year.  

Sergey Lavrov also expressed the opinion that Russia, the US and NATO have a chance to agree on those issues that Moscow considers to be a priority.

“Still, our consistent explanatory work and commitment to explaining our innocence, while being ready to listen to some serious counter-arguments, it seems to me that our possibilities are far from being exhausted,” the minister said in a conversation with the president.

Vladimir Putin himself, at a press conference following the results of negotiations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on February 15, emphasized that Russia seeks to negotiate with partners on issues of security guarantees through diplomacy.

At the same time, he called the forceful containment of the country by the Western allies a threat, emphasizing that no one in the Russian Federation wants war.

“The forceful containment of Russia is perceived by us as a direct and immediate threat to national security, which is exactly what the legal agreements on the basis of the projects we have submitted are designed to remove,” the Russian leader emphasized.

At the same time, experts believe that the current turn of the US and NATO towards dialogue with Russia suggests that they have almost come to terms with Moscow's demands for guarantees.

“He (the response of the West. -

RT

) showed that there is a reserve for advancing our demands ... The discussion has become wider, and our concerns are more clearly identified.

Well, I see that Westerners are beginning to realize that it is necessary to reach compromise solutions, ”said Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, in an interview with RT.

  • Symbols of NATO

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Free interpretation

At the moment, Russia is faced with the task of achieving a solid legal foundation for the interpretation of the principle of the indivisibility of security.

As Lavrov noted after a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Poland chairing the OSCE, in the West this principle is "shamelessly twisted and interpreted solely as the freedom to choose military alliances."

This also applies to criticism from the side of the "partners" of the military exercises that Russia is currently conducting on its territory and on the territory of Belarus as part of a test of the combat readiness of the reaction forces of the Union State.

“As for the exercises that Russia is conducting, ... they begin, are carried out and end as planned.

And in terms of exercises in the west of the country, in terms of similar events in the Far East, or joint Russian-Belarusian exercises,” Lavrov said.

Earlier, on February 14, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin on the ongoing large-scale exercises that are taking place in almost all Russian fleets and with the participation of almost every military district.

“Some of these exercises are coming to an end, some will be completed in the near future,” the head of the department said.

He also noted the "unreasonable" activity of Western military forces in the Far East, talking about an incident, allegedly with an American submarine off Urup Island.

In turn, on February 15, at a briefing, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that "as the combat training activities are completed, the troops, as always," will return to their permanent deployment points.

In particular, units of the Southern and Western military districts have already gone to the location of their units.

At the same time, the United States earlier criticized the Russian and Russian-Belarusian exercises, saying that they only escalate the situation around Ukraine.

In turn, in Poland, the opinion was voiced that after the exercises Russia could leave its troops in Belarus and thereby change the security architecture in Eastern Europe.

However, in Russia such a scenario of development of events has been repeatedly rejected.

In particular, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the prospect of leaving Russian troops in Belarus after the exercises was never considered.

“We are talking about allied exercises, and, of course, it is understood that upon completion of these exercises, the troops will return to their permanent locations,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, emphasized on February 8.

Change of position

Experts interviewed by RT note that Russia's current strict commitment to securing legally binding guarantees for itself is new to the West.

And the tenacity with which Moscow defends its interests is forcing the US and NATO to back down.

“Earlier, Russia did not even try so actively to promote its interests in foreign policy.

Since the time of Gorbachev, the Russian Federation has adhered to a policy of hints and has never formulated its position rigidly.

Therefore, Moscow’s current determination to stick to the intended course, no matter what, frightens the United States and its allies, forcing them to compromise, ”Alexey Podberyozkin, director of the MGIMO Center for Military-Political Research, explained in a conversation with RT.

Indeed, in the West, and especially in Europe, they are well aware of the risks of a war with Moscow, the expert added.

In turn, political scientist Alexander Asafov, in a commentary on RT, noted that the United States, realizing the perniciousness of the information campaign they are developing, is now trying to both dampen it and not lose face.

“The situation today has gone so far that every day now, specific dates for the “Russian invasion” are being set, and the world media are picking them up and spreading them.

But the United States understands that it is no longer possible to raise rates, and now they are seizing the opportunity of negotiations, ”the analyst said.

He also noted that Russia is waiting for the participation of all Western countries in the discussion of such a concept as the indivisibility of security, recalling Sergey Lavrov's letter to his colleagues.

“Russia is well aware that if it is impossible to agree with a collective body represented by NATO, then it is possible to resolve issues in a bilateral format.

In addition, Moscow is interested in the opinion of all countries, whether they really see NATO's position in relation to European security in the same way.

Moreover, the head of France, Emmanuel Macron, after negotiations with Putin, said that it was impossible to resolve all issues only with NATO,” Asafov added.

  • French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin

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  • © Sergey Guneev

At the same time, analysts believe that Ukraine, which initially served as a pretext for starting an escalation in relations between the West and Russia, today has lost the right to determine its own future fate.

“Everyone understands perfectly well that when big politicians begin to deal with some big issue, the nationalist trifle ceases to play any role, it simply disappears as a factor in the military-political situation,” Alexei Podberezkin emphasized.

However, the risk of any provocations from radical elements in the Donbass still remains, so Russia should be on the alert and be ready to protect its citizens there, Sergey Ermakov, an expert at the RISS Research Coordination Center, is sure.

“Any provocation is possible.

But the fact is that both in the West and in Kiev they still adequately assess the situation, given Russia's ability to give an adequate response.

Therefore, if there are such provocations, then the responsibility for them will fall entirely on Kiev and those Western countries that militarize Ukraine by increasing the supply of weapons there, ”Yermakov expressed his opinion in an interview with RT.

Experts also note that the current Russian exercises, including jointly with Belarus, in conditions of tension, have become a demonstration of the ability of the Russian Federation to defend its interests with more stringent methods.

“Maneuvers in the Baltic, in the Black and Mediterranean Seas, in the Far East, the redeployment of various types of troops, from MIGs with hypersonic interception systems to S-400 missile systems, all this demonstrated to the West Russia's ability to defend itself.

It was convincing, and, most importantly, it took place without violating any international treaties, ”said Alexei Podberezkin.

According to him, such a demonstration was necessary for the West to know that Russia is strong not only in its diplomacy.

“For the first time in the last thirty years, Russia has used military-technical means precisely as an instrument of policy.

Today, the West has once again become convinced that a war, even on a regional scale in a limited theater of operations against Russia, is a serious risk, and they have thought about it well, ”the expert concluded.